Supermarkets missing out by promoting poultry over beef

Supermarkets are missing out on millions of pounds-worth of consumer spend by promoting poultry over beef for Sunday roasts, according to a leading analyst.

Giles Quick, director of Kantar Worldpanel, told delegates at the Eblex Outlook Conference (2 May 2012) that beef drives a far higher ancillary spend, with people spending 70p more per shop when they buy beef for Sunday lunch rather than chicken.

However, he said supermarkets have been tended to promote poultry, which now accounts for 50% of the roast dinner market.

Quick added that supermarkets were also missing a trick by failing to include fresh meat in meal-deal offers, which are now worth £257m to the sector.

“Retailers are only offering ready meals in their dine-in offers when in fact red meat is a major player in the dine-in category. The reality is different to the retailer offer,” he said.

Looking at consumer trends, he said people had moved from ‘protein-centred’ to ‘dish-centred’ cuisine and were now spending more time watching cookery programmes then cooking themselves, with the average time taken to prepare a main meal down from 60 minutes in 1980 to 30 minutes now.

This has not meant a move away from meat, but a switch to mince and a decline in roasting joints. “We have seen a movement in British kitchens from high-involvement foods to low-involvement foods,” he said.

Quick concluded by telling delegates that meat producers were of huge importance to the grocery sector, even though they may not feel like they were when negotiating with supermarket buyers.

“You are incredibly strong and powerful, you are the cornerstone of British cuisine. Without you we are eating pot noodles,” he said.